The Beauty of Handcrafted Metal Roses
Insights from a Three-Year Journey
Practice makes perfect.
If you make the same thing long enough, you’re going to pick up some tricks, and make some mistakes.
These are 3 lessons I learned from 3 years of crafting metal roses.
Patterns
Using the right pattern makes all the different
I can’t tell you how many roses I’ve had to start over because I used a bad pattern. I also usually alter the petals more after I cut them out, so even a good pattern won’t save you. That said, it will save you a lot of time.
Test your patterns with paper prototypes before switching to metal sheets.
Use a File
This was a small trick I discovered last Valentine’s Day.
I was bending the petals to shape, but it looked bland, and you could see marks from my pliers. I dug around my bag and found a loose file sitting there. I started to scratch and texture the artificial leaves and petals.
It took hours, but it was well worth it.
The Stem Matters
The biggest changes between my roses are the stems.
Adding a good stem to your rose is more of an art than a science. It has to be the right length, material, thickness, and strong enough to hold the rose bud together. Also, you aren’t just limited to using a single wire for the stem.
My best result came from a 6 part braided stem made from brass, with 3 wires holding the rose bud, and 3 bent into leaves.
